Unit 4 - Discussion Questions

Part A

1. In what ways did President Jefferson modify his political philosophy to address opportunities and problems?
2. How did the Louisiana Purchase change America’s future?
3. How did the United States attempt to avoid war with Europe from 1800 to 1812?
4. Could one argue the War of 1812 was a senseless waste of resources and men? Why or why not?
5. In what ways did the War of 1812 benefit America?
6. How was the “Era of Good Feelings“ a misnomer?
7. In what ways was John Marshall America’s most influential Chief Justice?
8. How did sectionalism enter American politics between 1819 and 1821?
9. In what ways were the seeds of the Market Revolution of the 1830s planted after the War of 1812?

Part B

1. How did the election of 1824 bring an end to the Era of Good Feelings?
2. How did the election of Andrew Jackson represent the rise of the common man?
3. How did the spoils system support the ideas of Jacksonian democracy?
4. Why did Jackson want to remove Native Americans from the southeastern states?
5. What events helped alienate John C. Calhoun from Andrew Jackson?
6. How did the struggle over the Second National Bank symbolize the ideals of Jacksonian democracy?
7. How were women and African Americans left out of the democratization of the 1830s?
8. How did the Whig Party project a clearer view of America’s economic future than the Democrats?
9. How did John Tyler disappoint both the Democrats and the Whigs?

Part C

1. How did economic and social changes after the War of 1812 fuel the reforms of the 1830s?
2. How did religious developments promote the reforms of the 1830s?
3. How did the Market Revolution give rise to the developments of utopian societies in the 1830s and 1840s?
4. Why did the Jacksonians oppose many of the reforms of the 1830s?
5. Why was the “burned-over district” so involved in the reforms of the period?
6. Was Garrison a positive or negative force in ending slavery in America?
7. Did the American Colonization Society hurt the abolitionist crusade? Explain why or why not.
8. What was the attitude of most Americans toward the abolitionist movement?
9. In what ways were the temperance reformers both progressive and repressive in their ideology and tactics?
10. Why were women unable to make significant improvement in their position in society before the Civil War?